Don't Travel Alone
by sutchy1992
Summary: After losing the Ponds, The Doctor tries to travel to Victorian London to find comfort in his friends. So how exactly did he wind up in London in 1483? And why are his other selves there? Will he finally solve the mystery of the Princes in the Tower once and for all?
1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS materialised at the Lunar University Library, which was unusually empty. The grubby TARDIS door creaked open and River Song stepped out, closely followed by the Doctor, who stood in the doorway, his brow furrowed with worry.

"I mean it, River, travel with me," the Doctor stated pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, my love, but I can't. But please, please Doctor, don't travel alone." She replied.

The Doctor gave a wry smile and brushed the door frame. "The old girl needs a new look. That'll distract me for a little while. Until next time, Professor Song."

He stepped back into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him slowly. He paused for a moment, the attempted to bound towards the central console, up the glass stairs with an attempt at his old enthusiasm. He threw his tweed jacket onto the sofa and spun the monitor to start redesigning the console room. He set the TARDIS to travel to Victorian London in 1892 and it began to dematerialize. Vastra, Jenny and Strax would understand, he thought.

He half-heartedly began to scroll through the basic options on the monitor. Suddenly, the TARDIS console room phased around him, with his steam-punk console combined with the coral columns from the previous desktop. The Doctor looked at the monitor baffled.

"What are you up to, old girl?" He asked his machine. The option he saw before his eyes did not correspond with the one on the screen before him.

He was suddenly aware of another man in the console room. Glancing upwards through the glass column centre of his console, the Doctor saw a man with dark and close cropped hair lower his hands from a cross shape. He turned and looked stunned at his surroundings.

"What are you doing in my TARDIS?" The man asked. The Doctor noticed his accent sounded like he was from the north of England.

"What am I doing in your TARDIS? What are you doing in mine?" The Doctor indignantly replied. He glanced at his monitor. "Two TARDISes attempting to land at the same point!" He pulled two levers and the dark haired man disappeared from his TARDIS.

The Doctor then busied himself around his console, pressing buttons and brought the TARDIS into land. He grabbed his jacket and hurried down to the doors and flung them open, stepping out not into Victorian London, but medieval era London. Directly in front of him was the Tower of London, and to his surprise, were three police boxes in a circle.

The Doctor approached the first TARDIS, the police box exterior looking almost as worn out as his. He knocked and apprehensively, and the reply was "Just a minute!" in the same northern accent that he had heard in his TARDIS just a few moments before. Eventually the door of the TARDIS swung open, and in the doorway stood his Ninth incarnation, wearing a black leather jacket, a red jumper and black jeans, different to what he had been wearing when he appeared in his later selves' console room.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." The Ninth Doctor stated. "What do you think of the clothes?"

"No bowtie?" The Eleventh Doctor asked rhetorically. "Bowties are cool. Exhibit A." He straightened his own. "Still, black jacket, black jeans, very grunge."

"Coming from the Nutty Professor, that means a lot. Who are you anyway? And why are there three other TARDISes here? Where are we?"

The Eleventh Doctor signalled to his own darker blue TARDIS and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his tweed jacket. The Ninth Doctor looked taken aback. "As for the other TARDISes, I'm as in the dark as you are. And as for where and when we are," he said, checking his watch. "London, England. 1483."

Both heard another TARDIS door open, and the Eleventh Doctor turned to see a gentleman with long black curly hair and Edwardian style clothes. The Ninth Doctor showed signs of recognition of the man, and the Eighth Doctor walked over to his successors.

"Good afternoon. I am, as I think you are both aware, the Doctor. Number Eight, last time I checked. You two must be my replacements." There was a slight Scouse twang to his voice. "I wonder what brought all of us here."

"I think I can explain that one, young man," announced another voice with a slight Scottish lilt. The Ninth Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS to take a look at the speaker, closing the door behind him. The speaker was a shorter man than the other three Doctors and was placing a panama hat on his head, then straightened his brown jacket.

The Seventh Doctor continued, "My shields were down as I was in the process of making some improvements, leaving my TARDIS vulnerable to a homing beacon, which in this case was from another Type 40 TARDIS. I presume that your shields were also down?" This Doctor softly rolled his rs.

"I was in the process of redeveloping my TARDIS desktop," The Eighth Doctor replied, "to gain power to do so, I took down the shields." The Eleventh Doctor nodded in agreement.

"I'd set the TARDIS shields to protect the interior as I was regenerating," the Ninth Doctor stated.

"You see, my theory was right." The Seventh Doctor stated. "I don't remember being any of you, but I'm sure you all remember being me." His three successors nodded. There was a gentle cough from behind the circle of the Time Lords outside the Ninth Doctor's TARDIS, they turned to see a group of guards, lightly armed.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. Your presence is commanded by Prince Richard, protector of the Realm. We are ordered to take you to the Tower of London," stated the Captain.


	2. Chapter 2

The Captain led the four Time Lords into the throne room of the Tower of London. Richard, Lord Protector of England stood by the throne.

"Your Majesty," announced the Captain, bowing low. "I have brought you the Lords of Time."

"Thank you Lord Stanley. Please send for the Soothsayer." Richard stated. Lord Stanley exited the room, leaving only two guards on the door and the Doctors were alone with the future King of England.

"My lord Doctors," Richard stated. "These are dark times. My brother, Edward, died this year, leaving an infant heir and naming myself as Lord Protector, a position I neither asked for nor sought out. My nephews have been kept here in the Tower of London for their own safety, but my spies tell me that rumours persist that they are dead. My soothsayer me that there is trouble brewing domestically and on the continent, where the House of Lancaster's claimant to the throne apparently has the support of the King of France."

"Your soothsayer, who is he?" asked the Eighth Doctor inquisitively.

"He speaks highly of you, Doctors. He told me that he foresaw your coming and that you would be able to help in this crisis," Richard replied.

The Eleventh Doctor turned to his other selves and then back to Richard. "Your Majesty, when you say that you have moved the Princes to the Tower for their own protection, what about the Dowager Queen? Their mother?"

Richard blanched at the Eleventh's Doctor's questions. "That is not a pertinent question to be asking a King!" He retorted.

"With all due respect, your Majesty," the Ninth Doctor chimed in. "You are no King, only a Prince and Lord Protector, and I think we'd" he stated, signalling his two past incarnations and one future self, "like to know why you have not taken the entirety of your brother's family into the Tower for protection."

"My sister-in-law and my nieces are safe in Westminster Abbey! I cannot trust anyone. They doff and scrape in my presence and then sharpen their blades behind my back. I assure you all, Lord Doctors, that the Princes are safe and alive. My soothsayer has advised me that I should parade them around London, but he says that they are not well enough presently."

Lord Stanley re-entered. "Your Majesty, I have brought the soothsayer," he announced.

"Well, well, well," said a booming voice which all four Doctors knew all too well. "We _are _in trouble, aren't we?"


	3. Chapter 3

The Fourth Doctor stepped out of the shadows to bow before the now seated form of Richard. His other selves looked at him almost disbelieving that he could have been there.

"Soothsayer," Richard greeted him coldly. "I have brought you your Lords of Time. Doctors, this is the Soothsayer. He was trusted by the King, my brother , and was instrumental in the downfall of my other, younger brother, George."

The Eighth Doctor looked at the Fourth Doctor incredulously. "Soothsayer," he stated, "if you can see the future, maybe you can tell our host the future of his nephews. Or, maybe, even about 1485?"

The Fourth Doctor opened his eyes wide. "The future is clouded but I can assure His Majesty that events here will be remembered."

"As great Kings? And what about myself, Soothsayer? Will I be remembered? Or will Tudor get the attention?"

The Seventh Doctor, who had been strangely silent up until now, moved as though to speak, but was cut off by Lord Stafford. "Your Majesty! There is no way that Henry Tudor will be remembered! France are unable to gather an army and by the time he has, we will have one strong enough to repel him."

Richard seemed appeased by this. "Soothsayer! Take my Lord Doctors with you to visit the Princes!" He ordered. "I want to know whether the Princes will be well enough to attend mass at the Abbey with their mother and sister next Sunday." He paused, then pointed at the Seventh Doctor. "You, Lord of Time, will remain with me."

The other Doctors looked startled at this, but the shorter man stated diplomatically, "If that is what your Majesty desires."

Richard then turned his attention to Stanley. "Fetch me Lovell, Ratcliffe, Catesby and the Duke of Norfolk. And make sure that we are not disturbed."

* * *

"You're all my later selves, I wasn't expecting that!" exclaimed the Fourth Doctor, adjusting his long multi-coloured striped scarf. The Four Doctors were hurrying along a corridor towards the royal quarters in the Tower of London, the Fourth Doctor striding ahead, the other three following in his wake. "Still, nice to know I have a future!"

"Luck of the draw, I guess," The Eleventh Doctor replied. "There's nothing to stop the others getting through."

"I turned it off when I knew I'd made contact with one of you. _They_ were starting to get suspicious."

The Night Doctor stopped in his tracks, and the other three stopped and turned to look at him. "Hold on a minute, who was getting suspicious? They're centuries away from being able to detect that kind of technology. Gallifreyan homing beacons are one of the most impossible things to detect in the universe."

"There are forces at work here, my dear chap," the Fourth Doctor replied. "And what on Earth is wrong with your accent? You sound like you should be working in a mine!"

"It's a Northern accent! I'm sorry I, I mean we, can't always be speaking with received pronunciation. Which is a Gallifreyan concept anyway." The Ninth Doctor retorted.

The Eighth Doctor interrupted. "Let's not stand around bickering all day." He turned to the Fourth Doctor. "What kind of forces?"

"I can't say for certain, but given that this is somewhat a crossroads in time, that is to say, that undue influence on this year, 1483, could have ripple effects throughout time, there are almost certainly dark machinations."

"I didn't think you'd invited us here for a chit chat and a jammie dodger," the Eleventh Doctor said. "Come on then, time waits for no man." He took a few steps, stopped, swept back his overhanging fringe and turned. "You know, I've never really understood that phrase."

"We know!" His three predecessors stated in unison. "We are you, remember?"

The Four Doctors then picked up the pace towards the Royal Quarters.

* * *

"The French ambassador reassures me, your Majesty, that the King has no intention to support Henry Tudor if he turns his mind to invasion. However, he made it very clear that the French court is very concerned about the apparent disappearance of King Edward and his brother." Lord Lovell stated. The Seventh Doctor was so taken aback by the similarity between Lovell and a hungry canine that he mused to himself that it was no surprise that chroniclers had later labelled him the dog.

"Your Majesty, I hope it's not bold of me to interject," He spoke up, and Richard, in a regal manner, signalled with a hand gesture that he may speak. "If you are concerned about the safety of the Princes and do not trust some of your followers here in London, perhaps it would be wiser to separate them and send one of them, Richard, perhaps, up to the safehold of York, to be with your mother. I could travel with him and ensure no harm befalls him," The Seventh Doctor stated, all the while twirling his panama hat absentmindedly on his index finger.

"An excellent idea, my Lord of Time. Catesby, make it so!"

* * *

The Four Doctors entered the royal quarters, which were eerily quiet. The Eleventh Doctor spat out in disgust and the pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his tweed jacket's pocket. The buzzing device quickly came up with a result.

"Ah ha! As I thought! Slightly rusty metal taste in the back of my mouth, someone's been using a short range teleport! But who on Earth has that technology in the fifteenth century?" He mused to himself.

The Ninth Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his black leather jacket and scanned the room himself, the blue light bouncing off the stone walls and illuminating the tapestries that hung on the walls. "I'm picking up another teleport signal behind that door," he stated, signalling a doorway off to the four Time Lords' right.

"Mad Eyes and I will go an investigate," The Eighth Doctor announced. "You two, stay here and see if you can reverse the teleport beams." The Fourth and Eighth Doctors left the room, opening the wooden door and walked off down a cold and draughty corridor.

When he was certain that the other two Doctors were out of earshot, the Ninth Doctor approached. "Are you alone? I mean, travelling alone?" he asked in hushed tones.

The Eleventh Doctor paused. "Yes. Yes, I think that all five of us are." He replied in a mournful tone.

"I thought that we, I mean I, made a promise to myself that I would never travel alone again. Not after the Fall of Arcadia and the Moment. Not after what we saw and did."

The Eleventh Doctor looked at his predecessor. "Of course. It is still very recent for you." He raised his screwdriver and continued scanning for a teleportation device. "The Last Day of the last Great Time War. Rest assured Doctor, that we do travel with companions and we will be happy."

"If we do travel with people again, then why are you alone?"

The Eleventh Doctor shot a warning look at his predecessor. Then he spotted it. Over the leather clad shoulder of the Ninth Doctor was a tapestry of the Tudor Rose. "Of course! How stupid of me! That's not right at all." The two Time Lords moved towards the tapestry, and as one, tore the tapestry off the wall, revealing a machine that certainly did not belong in 1483.

"Oooh! A flashy lighty thing!" The Eleventh Doctor exclaimed. The Ninth Doctor shot him a look.

"Fantastic!" He cried. "It's a teleport relay. If I magnetize the temporal particles…"

"…and I reverse the signal, we can bring whoever or whatever teleported back!"

"Genius!"

The Eleventh Doctor laughed. "You know, having companions is great but, they're not always on the same wavelength."

The Ninth Doctor threw his black leather jacket onto a chair, and holding his silver screwdriver in his right hand, pointed it at the teleport relay. "Are you ready, Doctor?" he asked, with a smile.

"I'm always ready, Doctor!" The Eleventh replied, and the two Doctors activated their sonic screwdrivers.

On the other side of the room, a large figure began to materialise. It's red and sucker covered face turned to a scowl as it saw the two Time Lords, and the creature snarled, causing both Doctors to turn on their heel.

"Zygon!" yelled the Eleventh Doctor. He was aware of running footsteps from the door behind him, which flung open as his fourth and eighth selves burst through, short of breath. A laser bolt flew through the door as the two Doctors attempted to close it, sending splinters of wood flying through the air. The laser bolt hit the opposite stone wall, blackening the stone.

"Princes…gone…" panted the Eighth Doctor.

"Sontaran!" exclaimed the Fourth.

* * *

**A/N:** **Thanks for the feedback, I hope you've enjoyed the three chapters so far. I feel like I have neglected the Seventh Doctor so far (he didn't even get to speak in Chapter 2!) but he will be getting a huge juicy piece of the action in the next couple of chapters, although separately from the other Four.**


End file.
